How to Make Simple Strawberry Syrup

Posted on June 28, 2012 by Deborah

If you have ever made Simple Syrup for desserts or cocktails, then you will know this is a *simple* thing to put together. So simple that Clyde the Orangutang from Every Which Way But Loose could mix this up…that is if he isn’t too busy making right turns and punching out bad guy bikers..am I the only one to remember that movie and the sequels with Clint Eastwood?

Anyway, on to syrup making, as I said, real simple to do….

One of the most beloved fruits on my must-eat list are strawberries, and they can quickly be made into strawberry … Read more...

Straw + Berry = Best Taste of Summer

Posted on June 27, 2012 by Deborah

Not many people I know turn their nose up at a red, ripe, delicious Strawberry. If I knew anyone that did, then I’m pretty sure they grew up in Antartica and therefore were deprived of ever knowing what a strawberry was.

Here in Ontario, our Berry season is s-h-o-r-t, painfully short. So short if you are not paying attention, you miss some of the best berries in the world. You then kick yourself continuously until next year, sticking post-it notes all over the house with these words on them – “DON’T MISS BERRY SEASON”. Your spouse then wonders if he … Read more...

Garden Update ~ Haircut # 2…

Posted on June 26, 2012 by Deborah

Actually, some things have gotten their third and fourth buzz cuts already. I tell you, things are just bustin’ out all over in the little garden patch in my backyard. I am really, really having a hard time taming the Sage ‘BRUSH’…pun intended. This thing is getting bigger by the millisecond, and if it has it’s way, will soon take over the whole space. That is the ginormous Sage Brush in the middle of the pic below, it literally is 3 feet high and almost as wide.

The Tomatoes are right behind the Sage in growth spurts. Zero to 3 … Read more...

How to Make an Umbrella Holder that is Stylin’

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Deborah

This post is a long time in the ‘Want-To-Make-List’. Mainly because I could not find a suitable bucket/container to make into an umbrella holder. I am still not 100% thrilled with the one I found. I am about 75% thrilled, but will keep my eyes open for the PERFECT container that I hope to find…someday.

I basically had this put together in under 2 hours. I would have been done sooner but I had to stop and watch a passing thunderstorm here at the lake. Nothing like a good thunder-boomer in cottage country to make you stop and admire Mother … Read more...

When life hands you Tomatoes…and more…and more….

Posted on June 21, 2012 by Deborah

You can do one of two things. Either grab your hundreds of bushels of tomatoes and head over to Bunol, Spain for the La Tomatina Festival (the world’s biggest Food Fight) OR…scour the internet, your cookbooks, and while your at it, even your neighbours cookbooks, for as many recipes using tomatoes as you can find. Then get set to cook, can or eat your way through your bounty of tomatoes until you are so sick of them, you never want to see another tomato for as long as you live.

Or at least until next February, when you pull out … Read more...

How To Make Home-Made Tortilla Chips

Posted on June 13, 2012 by Deborah

Yum…who doesn’t love tortilla chips and salsa? or with Guacamole? or heck, just hoovering them up out of the bag mindlessly while you sit in front of the tv watching Guy Fieri nosh his way through triple bypass inducing food on Triple D. Admit it, you are just like that aren’t you?

I am…EXCEPT…the only thing I do not like about commercial tortilla chips is the salt.

I mean really, do they need to syphon so much water from the Mediterranean and dry it out and then douse the chips with them? Seems like it to me. I for one … Read more...

What to do when your Cilantro Bolts…

Posted on June 6, 2012 by Deborah

Other than pull your hair out, scream in frustration, angrily rip it out by its roots and burn it in a bonfire….ok, that may be extreme….but if you are fond of growing herbs (like me), than take heed to what I am about to tell you. Cilantro, Basil, Sage, etc. and often many lettuces have an annoyingly bad habit of doing something called ‘bolting’ when it gets too hot outside.

Bolting refers to the plant slowing down leaf production in favour of flowering and setting seed. The plants main focus (after leaf production for food/growth) is to generate flowers which … Read more...

What Was Your First……Kitchen Disaster?

Posted on June 5, 2012 by Deborah

I don’t mean burning toast in the toaster, or dropping an egg on the floor….Those are trivial nuisances that go hand in hand with learning your way around a Kitchen in your early Adult Years.

What I want to know is, what was your first full-blown, almost burned the house down or chopped your finger off with a Ginsu knife bad experience?

I want to hear your stories, cause someone out there has to have a story just as bad as mine and I would hate to feel alone in my embarrassments.

I actually have 2, the very first one … Read more...